Yes. And it seems that in Japan, the customers of the small company only had to pay X, but still could subtract Y from their own VAT payments! So the price of

Yes. And it seems that in Japan, the customers of the small company only had to pay X, but still could subtract Y from their own VAT payments! So the price of the small business was effectively X - Y. Which is what I would call a subsidy. And a bad subsidy, because it suddenly cuts off at a certain value, discouraging organic growth.